The Boy Who Betrayed
by StripedNeonTights
Summary: Matthew "Dice" Danson is the newest newsie to the Manhatten news boys. But there is something rather fishy about this familiar-looking newsie. There is only one question upon everyone's mind: is Dice really a girl in disguise?
1. Meeting the New Life

**Author's Note: I do not own anything from the Newsies, it all goes to Disney. However, I do own Samantha Danson.**

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It was bright and sunny on a particular spring day, a ship had just ported from London, England. Everyone aboard the ship was in a rush to get on land and start their new life in America. A girl that was named Samantha looked round worriedly for her family. Her eyes scanned the throng of people overcrowding the exit. She was only sixteen, and yet, she was crying like a three year old.  
"Father! Mama!" She cried out, tears spilling over her mud brown eyes. She gulped harshly, trying to stop herself from crying anymore. She hoped that her family were on their way towards their Uncle's and Aunt's house. Sighing a shrug, she carefully picked up her suitcase from the ground and joined the slow moving crowd.

"Mama! Father!" Samantha called out once more, wondering if her family even made it on the ship at all. She shuddered at that thought.

_Samantha let out a gasp of air as she boarded the one ton ship called the Voyager. She turned around, searching in the sea of faces for her family. She couldn't find them and a frown stood upon her lips. With her suitcase in hand, she found her second class room. The inside of the room was well put together; the decorations, the colors, and the arrangement was stunning. Throughout the voyage, Samantha didn't have contact with her family, but they were at the back of her mind._

No word, no sighting, no lingering of her father or mama. She stifled a cry as she made her way up and down streets, not even bothering to look at the names. Samantha was getting sticky from sweat underneath her petticoat, stockings, heeled shoes, and thick blue dress. Taking a sigh, she gazed around her environment, looking for a place to rest. Her eyes settled on a small restaurant called Tibby's and walked over to the establishment to enter through the doors.

When Samantha took one foot inside the restaurant, she stopped suddenly, not expecting to see a throng of boys in news caps staring back at her. The colour crimson flooded her cheeks as she maneuvered around the men, holding to her suitcase tightly. Soft snickers, low whistles, and hushed whispers enveloped the small-framed girl.

"What do wese got here guys. A lil' goil outta place," snickered Mush, the Italian-looking newsie who has been one for about five years now. He swaggered up to her and took a dirty blonde strand of her hair between his thumb and fore finger. "I'm Mush. Who are yah?" Mush added, smiling crookedly.

Samantha gulped, trying not to swoon over his accent and rugged good looks. "I-I-I am Sam-Samantha, sir," She stutterd in a hushed voice.

"She's a betty fo' sure, da best lookin' goil Ise seen in ages," called out Racetrack, the only boy with a cigar stuck in his mouth. Samantha blushes a dark shade of red and looked down at the maple wood bar, her fingers fumbling against each other.

"Dat's enough, guys," Jack Kelly spoke authoritatively, shoving his way up to where Mush stood over by Samantha. Once he rested his left elbow on the bar next the out-of-place girl, he smiled gently. "Sorry 'bout dat. Dey ain't used to seein' pretty goils up in poison*."

Samantha dismissed that saying with a shake of her head. "Oh no, tis my fault you see. I don't know how to portray myself around good-looking men," She said, almost shyly, but bravado rang in her eyes that looked at Jack Kelly with adoration. A chorus of good feedback chimed in but Jack silenced them with a stern look.

"I'm Jack. Jack Kelly, also known as Cowboy," he chortled a bit as he took Samantha's hand and placed it up to his lips.

"I'm Samantha. Samantha Danson, also known as Dice due to my 'gambling' nature as my Father" - she winced - "calls it." She responded, her cheeks flushing as her family was brought to her mind again.

"Well, Samantha, why is a goil like you, doin' wanderin' da streets wifout a guide?" Jack asked, trying to move his hair that fell in his live of view.

"I was on my way to my Uncle and Aunt's house, where I am hoping is where my family is," She whimpered out, her words slightly slurring together to form a long word of gibberish. She hated getting like this, it made her feel weak and not in control of the situation at hand. Her family was a touchy subject - she knows that - but, she couldn't help but hoping that this part of the conversation would diminish soon.

Jack felt the tension in her voice as she talked about her family, and decided to quickly change the subject, before the girl started crying. "Oh, I see." he started, nodding a bit, "Would yah like an escort to your Uncle 'nd Aunt's place? Because I am free at the moment."

Samantha lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes, please," she said, getting up from the hard stool, and bent down to get her suitcase that was resting by the chair.

"Lemme get dat for yah," Jack said as he took the suitcase out of Samantha's grasp. Their hands brushed against each other and caused Samantha's nerves to send her body into a frenzy. "Ready to go?" Jack asked, getting the same sensation. He held out his arm for her to take, and waited. The girl looking up at him, smiled brightly and took the waiting arm without a second thought.

"Yes, I am," She replied, a twinkle sparkling in her brown eyes.


	2. Finding a New Identity

**Author's Note: Okay, I hope you guys do know that Samantha is Matthew "Dice" Danson. Because, that would be awkward if you didn't.**

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Dice looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. The outfit had worked. She let out a small gasp as she had transformed from the girly-girl Samantha Danson into Matthew Danson, with just a few clothes from her cousin's closet. Dice was wearing dark blue trousers, a tan button up shirt, black suspenders, and a black cap placed on her head. Her dirty blond hair was tucked neatly underneath the cap, it made her look like a boy.

"How do I look as a boy?" Dice asked, turning towards her aunt, that was tearing up at the sight of Dice. Her aunt had lost both of her boys a couple of years back in a tragic factory fire, and then a couple of months later, lost her husband to a runaway carriage. So, Dice's aunt had been through a lot the past couple of years, which is why her family decided to move to America, and had a hard time coping with the loss.

Dice's aunt smiled and nodded her head, tears silently falling down her cheeks. "You look darling, Sa - I mean, Matthew," she caught herself, shaking her head softly, trying to erase all knowing of Matthew's true identity. She sniffled, and then ordered Dice to turn around, getting the full effect of the new identity to this small-framed person. Dice bit her lip and did as told. It was quite awkward when her aunt came and fixed her suspenders over her patted down breasts. Dice froze and stood still, memories of her own mother flooded back into her mind.

000

_Samantha giggled and ran down the hallway, looking back over her shoulder, a smile upon her lips. She was wearing her dainty blue dress with white frills around the sleeves and hem of the dress. _

"You can't catch me!" _Samantha yelled down the small, cramped hallway to her mother, Alice, that was just coming out of her bedroom, a breast wrap in her hands. She started chasing Samantha, and caught up quickly, taking hold of her arm tightly. The mother's daughter jerked to a halt, feeling something pull in her arm, and she fell against her mother, too weak to move. _

"You will listen to me," _Her mother hissed in her ear, as she towed her thirteen year old back to her bedroom. Samantha's joints froze up, as she mother dragged her by her arm to the small confines of her bedroom. Alice stripped off her daughter's dress and flung it across the room, angry about her running off. She took the breast wrap and tightly wrapped up her daughter's breast as quickly as possible, not caring if her hands grazed the soft, tender skin. Samantha stared at her mother like she was crazy doing this, touching her in this manner - it was unladylike like. Well, then again, Samantha's mother wasn't really lady-like at all._

000

"Hurry up! You are going to be late to sell the newspaper," Dice's aunt shooed her out of the door, giving her behind quick, soft taps to make her get along. Shooting looks back at her aunt, Dice listened carefully, picking up every little whisper and hush-word coming out of her aunt's mouth. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Dice grabbed that hand and held on to it tightly, as if it was her lifeline - and, in a sense - it was. She let out a shaky breath as she went down the stairs, taking in every sight like it was the first sighting. All of the colours, smells, and arrangement were bright, new and exciting. The reds became redder, the blues became more vivid. A whole new life just opened before Dice's brown eyes.

"So, I guess this is farewell Aunt Catherine," Dice spoke softly, her hand grasping the gold painted knob. She turned her head to look up at her aunt that was standing at the top of the stairs. Aunt Catherine nodded, tears falling down her high cheekbones in waves. This was going to be hard saying goodbye to her only niece.

"Only for now," Aunt Catherine said, walking down the stairs slowly. Dice knew that her aunt would take a while, so she turned to face the door and opened it, already starting her new life. And that new life was a newsboy of Manhattan.

...

Dice wandered her way towards the distribution center - where the other newsies should be - thinking of how she will get into the newsie group as a friend, not as the one who forced her way into the group. She smiled and bit her lip as she thought about the newsboys that should be there: Racetrack, Mush and especially Jack Kelly. Dice giggled and smiled foolishly as her mind strayed down the Jack Kelly path. That path included fantasies, dreams and mental snapshots of this infamous Jack Kelly.

"Hey! Watch were you are going!" yelled a boy that Dice must've ran into. A shade a crimson flooded the girl-in-disguise's cheeks as she looked at the boy.

"I'm sorry," Dice said, lowering the pitch of her voice to match the strange boy's. Now she actually got to fully see the boy properly. He had short brown hair with striking blue eyes and something about him that didn't even make him a newsboy. He didn't have the accent like any of the other newsies. It was like he wasn't even living in Manhattan. It was quite weird. A splash of confusion spread across Dice's face as she studied the boy even more in depth. "What is your name?" She asked the boy that stood in front of her with his blue button up shirt and brown vest to cover it up.

"I'm David, or also known as 'Mouth' or 'Davey'," David responded, a smile playing with his lips. Dice smiled back, starting to be more comfortable around David.

"I'm Matthew, or also known as 'Dice'," Dice responded, careful on how she shaped her words that poured out of her mouth. She was tempted to just say her real name, but quickly diminished it. Something about David let her feel like she could do basically anything - even tell her real identity. Her smile that was just starting to form became into a full-blown smile. "So, David, are you going to sell papes?"

"Of course, I'm not a newsie for nothing," David started his reply, then started getting suspicious about this new person. "Why? Are you new to Manhattan?"

Dice sensed the tension in the air and thought quickly to get a line that would lighten the mood a little bit. She hated being in a tensed area, it scared her for some reason. It was like she needed to feel 'in charge' of the situation in some way.

"I just moved here with my sister, Samantha," Dice responded quickly, not missing a beat, although, her eyes had something other to say. David smiled lightly and then looked around, as if looking for someone. The girl in disguise followed his gaze, where ever it landed.

"Davey! Who do yah got dere?" called the reason why Dice joined the newsies in the first place: Jack Kelly. Her heart fluttered as her head whipped towards the sound of the voice. And there he stood, tall and proud, a curious look upon his heavenly face. He walked closer, his shoulders squared, taking in the new person standing in front of Jack's wing man.

"Oh, this is Matthew," David said nonchalantly, a shrug lifting up his shoulders slightly. Dice looked up at Jack and smiled, acknowledging him.

"Hey dere Matthew, do yah have a nickname?" Jack looked at Matthew, his curious face deepening. Dice smiled slightly and then nodded.

"Yes, I'm known as Dice, mainly," She said, sticking out his hand for Jack to shake it. Jack took a step back, knowing that nickname sounded very familiar. He shook his head slightly, and then forced a smile on his face.

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**Author's Note: Sorry, for not updating sooner. I just have been really busy lately.**


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